2004-5-31
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VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Sarah
Long.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Doug Johnson. Coming up,
new evidence in support of a weight-loss method.
VOICE ONE:
A new plan to try to get more people around the world to lose
weight.
VOICE TWO:
And, a new drug in the fight against another big problem:
malaria.
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VOICE ONE:
Many people who try to lose weight know that no diet is perfect.
But two new studies show that a diet low in carbohydrates can cause
faster weight loss than a diet low in fats. This was true at least
in the short term. Researchers published the findings in the Annals
of Internal Medicine.
The studies appear to support popular low-carbohydrate plans like
the Atkins diet. Doctor Robert Atkins urged people to eat
high-protein foods like meat and eggs. He told dieters to avoid
foods high in starch and sugar. Doctor Atkins died last year. He
fell on an icy street in New York and suffered a head injury. He was
seventy-two years old.
VOICE TWO:
Our body uses carbohydrates for energy. It can also make energy
from protein and fat. But proteins generally make people feel more
satisfied with less food than carbohydrates do. This is one of the
main arguments for a low-carb diet to lose weight.
One of the new studies took place at Duke University Medical
Center in Durham, North Carolina. The Robert C. Atkins Foundation
paid for the study but was not involved in the research. This
organization works to get more people to follow the doctor's ideas.
One-hundred-twenty overweight adults took part in the study. They
were between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five. They followed
either the Atkins plan or a low-fat diet for one year.
After six months, the people on the Atkins diet lost an average
of eleven kilograms. Those on the low-fat diet lost an average of
six kilograms.
VOICE ONE:
The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, did the second study. This study did not involve the
Atkins Foundation.
One-hundred-thirty-two adults took part. Most had diabetes. The
researchers put half the people on a low-carb diet. The other half
followed a low-fat diet.
After one year, the low-carb dieters had lost on average as much
as eight kilograms. Yet the low-fat dieters lost about the same
amount.
What happened? The low-carb dieters lost weight faster in the
beginning. But the low-fat dieters lost weight throughout the year.
However, the study found that the people with diabetes controlled
their blood sugar better with low carbohydrates.
The new research also found that triglyceride levels fell more on
the low-carb diet than on the low-fat plan. Triglycerides are fats
in the blood that can increase the risk of heart disease.
Levels of so-called good cholesterol also appeared to improve
with the low-carb diet. Higher levels of good cholesterol may reduce
the risk of heart disease. But levels of bad cholesterol did go up
in some people.
VOICE TWO:
Doctor Walter Willett is a nutrition expert at the Harvard School
of Public Health. Doctor Willett wrote a commentary on the two
studies. In his words, "we can no longer dismiss very-low
carbohydrate diets." He says Doctor Atkins should get "credit for
his observations that many people can control their weight by
greatly reducing carbohydrates."
But other health experts are not satisfied. They want more
research done to learn the effects of following the Atkins diet for
long periods of time. They warn that people who eat a lot of fat may
give themselves a heart attack. And they question how good it is for
people not to eat things like fruit.
VOICE ONE:
The Atkins diet and other low-carbohydrate plans have had a big
effect on the food industry. Stores sell lots of new low-carb foods
as well as lower-carb versions of breads and pastas. But supporters
of the Atkins diet say people should not use it as an excuse to fill
themselves with fatty foods.
Marketers of the eating plan have been doing more lately to try
to explain it to people. They say proteins such as poultry, fish,
beef, pork and soy products should be the largest part of what
people eat. But they say the next largest part should be green
vegetables. After that, the plan calls for smaller amounts of
fruits, oils, nuts, cheese and beans. The Atkins advice is that the
smallest part of what people eat should be whole grain foods such as
barley, oats and brown rice.
VOICE TWO:
But, to lose weight, it says eating should center on protein,
leafy vegetables and healthy oils.
Last week the New York Times reported what it said was apparently
the first legal action against the Atkins diet. A Florida man said
he suffered a blocked artery from high cholesterol after two years
on the diet. He asked for twenty-eight-thousand dollars. The Atkins
Nutritionals company said the case was part of an effort to scare
people into not eating any animal protein.
You're listening to SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.
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VOICE ONE:
Low-carbohydrate diets or not, more people than ever weigh too
much. The World Health Organization says this is a serious problem.
It says the opposite problem, hunger, affects about
eight-hundred-fifty-million people. But more than
one-thousand-million are overweight. And that just counts adults. At
least three-hundred-million adults are obese, severely overweight.
Health ministers around the world now have a plan called the
Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. They approved
it in late May at the meeting of the World Health Assembly in
Geneva.
VOICE TWO:
The plan urges people to eat less saturated fats and trans fatty
acids. Food products often list trans fats under the name "partially
hydrogenated" oil. The plan also urges people to eat less salt and
sugar, and more fruits and vegetables. It calls for more physical
activity. And it suggests that governments restrict food
advertising, especially messages aimed at children.
The plan took two years to develop. The sugar industry and
several sugar-producing nations had objected to earlier proposals.
They wanted to remove any discussion about limits on sugar. Some
sugar producing nations feared that their farmers would be hurt by
the new strategy.
VOICE ONE:
The director general of the W.H.O., Lee Jong-wook, praised the
strategy as a major success in public health policy. He said it will
provide countries with a powerful tool to fight diseases caused by
obesity.
Health officials say poor diet and lack of exercise are among the
leading causes of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. They say
these kinds of diseases now cause about sixty percent of deaths
worldwide.
In the United States, the government estimates that one in three
adults is obese. But health officials warn that the problem is
spreading in developing nations as they gain more wealth.
And the problem is not just among adults. A group called the
International Obesity Task Force estimates that one in ten children
worldwide is overweight or obese.
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VOICE TWO:
Another big problem in the world is malaria. The World Health
Organization estimates that about three-million people a year become
infected with this disease. About one-million of them die. Most of
the deaths are in Africa. Young children and pregnant women suffer
the most.
Now, the United Nations has given its support to another drug to
fight malaria. It is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine called
artemisinin (are-TEM-is-in-in). This drug comes from a plant called
the sweet wormwood. Chinese researchers discovered artemisinin more
than thirty years ago. Tests took place in the early
nineteen-nineties in Vietnam.
Malaria spreads through mosquito bites. New drugs are needed
because the parasites that cause the infection develop resistance.
Health experts hope to prevent resistance to artemisinin by giving
the drug in combination with other medicines.
VOICE TWO:
But experts also warn against the overuse of malaria drugs by
people who do not have the disease. They say that sick people often
mistake influenza or other diseases for malaria and take
anti-malaria medicine. This can add to the problem of drug
resistance. There are home tests for malaria. Health experts say
greater use of these tests could help make sure people take malaria
drugs only when they really need them.
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VOICE ONE:
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jill Moss. Cynthia Kirk was
our producer. This is Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Doug Johnson. Listen again next week for more news
about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America.